Olympics-Breaking-B-Girl Raygun misfires in perplexing performance

By Rory Carroll

PARIS (Reuters) - Breaking got its moment in the Olympic spotlight on Friday in Paris but one B-Girl got attention for all the wrong reasons with a cringeworthy performance that left many wondering how she ended up in the competition in the first place.

Rachael Gunn, a 36-year-old Australian university lecturer known in breaking as B-Girl Raygun, left fans puzzled by her dancing, which included laying on the stage and flailing around with her hand on her chin, a clip of which has been making the rounds online.

She also eschewed the hip-hop inspired outfits that other breakers wore in favour of a green and gold Team Australia tracksuit and cap.

"The Aussie B-Girl Raygun dressed as a school PE teach complete with cap while everyone else is dressed in funky breaking outfits has sent me," wrote X user @GeorgieHeath27.

"It looks like she's giving her detention for inappropriate dress at school."

The judges were not impressed either. Gunn lost all three of her round robin battles by a combined score of 54-0. The competition was won by Japan's Ami Yuasa, B-Girl Ami.

Gunn earned a PhD from Macquarie University in Sydney and her research interests include dance, gender politics, and the dynamics between theoretical and practical methodologies.

She secured Australia's first ever Olympic spot in the B-Girl competition at Paris 2024 by winning the QMS Oceania Championships in Sydney.

"It's certainly not something that I ever expected," Gunn said last year about qualifying for the Games in a sport she only picked up in her mid-20s.

It was not what the crowd at Place de la Concorde expected either and while some reacted negatively, others found her performance to be a delight.

"Screaming at this," wrote X user @racheltaenzler.

"B-Girl Raygun, you're an icon."

(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Paris; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)